


Finding Trust And Love Is Not Always Easy To Make

by MercyBuckets



Series: Run This Town [2]
Category: Dark Matter (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Children, Backstory, But Also Pretty Dark, Families of Choice, First Meetings, Gen, I Just Want To Be On The Safe Side, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Torture, Kinda, Not Beta Read, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Probably Not As Dark As It Sounds, Short-Term Memory Loss, Trust Issues, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-27
Updated: 2016-11-27
Packaged: 2018-09-02 15:59:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8673631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MercyBuckets/pseuds/MercyBuckets
Summary: Kal knows better but he takes the risk on this girl anywayorHow Kal meets Das for the first time





	

**Author's Note:**

> I'm back! I started this pretty soon after I finished Run This Town but then life got in the way. I'm thinking next I'll do something about Two, Three and Four's relationship or maybe the story of how One got involved with them.
> 
> The title is from New Soul by Yael Naim which was on a Five themed playlist I listened to recently and the thematic overlap was too good not to use it as a title.
> 
> Also a note on names: Six goes by Kal which is his original name as revealed in Welcome to Your New Home, Five goes by Das as that was her name when she was living on the streets in canon. 
> 
> See the end for content warnings.

Kal meets Das almost three months to the day after his desertion from the army. He’s been holed up in a boarded up factory for the past week or so. It’s largely avoided, even by the street kids because of the chemical waste and the persistent damp chill of the river, which bisects the factory on the lower floor. Kal’s pretty sure that once upon a time, the chemicals here were dumped directly into the rushing water. He wonders if that’s why the factory was shut down but that seems unlikely unless the water killed some billionaire’s garden or something. He never used to be this cynical but seeing the abuses of power firsthand with the army changed him in more ways than one.

He’s poking around the factory looking for a place to stash his few remaining valuables (his father’s watch and a knife from his first instructor) when he hears it. At first he mistakes the sound for running water but when he listens closer, he recognizes the sound of someone crying. He draws his gun.

“Hello?” he says loudly enough that it echoes in the cavernous room.

The sound unsurprisingly stops.

Kal moves cautiously towards the spot where he thought it was coming from. He rounds the corner and almost drops his gun when he sees a little girl.

It’s hard to estimate her age. She’s scrawny like most of the street kids with a round dirty face. Her hair is died green but it might have been dark once based on the color peeking out at the top. Underneath the dirt on her face, there are bruises. Kal feels a spike of anger. He doesn’t know this girl and she was probably trying to steal from him but only cowards and bastards hit kids.

“Hello,” he says again.

He lowers the gun but doesn’t drop it. Street kids can be dangerous to those who pity them. They’ve learned to be selfish, to survive.

‘Like you,’ he thinks unbidden.

The girl looks up at him, wary with thinly veiled fear disguised as anger.

She bears her teeth at him and hisses.

He stops moving and studies her from what he hopes is a safe distance.

Her right arm is clearly broken, cradled tight against her skinny frame. He can’t be sure from here but it looks like her fingers might be broken too.

“Who the fuck breaks a ten-year-old’s fingers?’ he growls before he can think better of saying it out loud.

“I’m twelve,” the girl says, like that’s the only objectionably thing in that sentence.

“Same difference,” says Kal.

“I’m not a kid,” says the girl defensively.

He looks at her skeptically as he returns his gun to his waistband. He knows that it’s stupid but he’s not going to shoot her, not now. He hopes that his naivety isn’t about to get him killed and moves towards her as unthreateningly as he possibly can.

From the look on her face, it’s still pretty threatening.

“Stay away from me,” she says.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he says.

Then he kicks himself. She’s probably heard that about a million times and it’s definitely not going to build any trust between them.

“I’ll hurt you if you try to touch me,” she says.

Her voice doesn’t even shake. The part of him that isn’t horrified is impressed.

“I just want to see your arm,” he says. “Your fingers are broken aren’t they?”

She looks away quickly enough for him to know that he’s right.

“If you don’t set them quickly enough, they’ll have to be re-broken,” he says.

“I know that,” she says sounding angry. “I told you, I’m not a kid.”

Kal’s almost close enough to reach out and touch her skinny shoulders but he doesn’t want to spook her.

‘This is such a bad idea,’ he thinks but then he does it anyway, sending up a silent plea. ‘Please don’t kill me Kid.’

He slips the gun out from his waistband and very slowly slides it over to her.

“Don’t shoot me okay,” he says.

She snatches is up in her good hand but doesn’t immediately point it at him which he figures is a good sign.

“Why did you do that?” she asks suspiciously.

“I figure this way you might let me look at your arm,” he says.

She curls in on herself just a little bit and clicks the safety off.

“Okay,” she says. “But that’s it.”

He closes the distance between them and takes her broken arm gently. She hisses between her teeth but doesn’t cry out.

“Fuck,” he says. “What did they do to you?”

Her fingers are not just broken but also dislocated and her arm is broken in at least two places.

“They wanted to leave me something to remember them by,” the girl says flatly. “I betrayed them.”

“Funny,” he says even though it’s anything but. “I betrayed someone too.”

“Ex-military right?” she says.

He almost groans.

“I thought I was doing better,” he says.

When he first left, he was recognized as a deserter by his mannerisms constantly. He had thought that he he had largely rid himself of the habits that screamed soldier but clearly not.

“It was the gun,” she says. “When you lowered it, you gave a little nod so the guy behind you would know to do the same.”

‘She’s good,’ he thinks. ‘Been on the streets for a while, maybe her whole life.’

He doesn’t ask. There are certain things you just don’t do.

“I’m Kal,” he says.

“That your real name?” she says. “You don’t think I’ll turn you in for the reward?”

“I figure I already gave you my gun,” he says. “In for a penny, in for a pound.”

“I’m Das,” she says. “It’s my real name, but not the one I was born with.”

“Okay Das,” he says. “I’m going to have to set this and it’s gonna hurt.”

“I know,” she says calmer than any twelve-year-old should be.

He expects her to pass out but somehow he’s shocked when she screams. He’s on the third finger and he almost stops in the middle. He moves on as quickly as he can. By the time he gets to her wrist, she’s sobbing and screaming in one long drawn out constant noise. She thrashes when he sets her wrist and he feels like a monster. She’s still a little girl under all of her bravado.

“It’s done,” he says finally.

She’s trembling, left hand still clutching the gun loosely.

“Sorry,” she says. Her voice is horse from screaming but it doesn’t shake.

“Sorry for what?” he asks getting a sudden bad feeling.

She lifts the gun and shoots him point blank.

 

* * *

 

The first thing he’s aware of when he wakes up is how much his chest hurts. The second his that he can’t move his arms. He panics before he can stop himself. He’s tied up and he can’t remember what happened.

“I meant it.”

He spins as best he can to look at the speaker. It’s a girl with green hair and her arm in a sling. She looks familiar, like he should know who she is.

“Meant what?” he asks even though he should probably be keeping his mouth shut. This is probably some trick. Send in a kid to get him to talk.

“That I was sorry,” she says. “I had to be sure.”

“What are you talking about?” he asks.

The girl cocks her head like a bird.

“Oh shit,” she says. “It was probably the distance. Stun blasts can cause short-term memory loss at close range.”

She holds up a familiar looking gun but there’s a piece on the side that he doesn’t recognize.

“Is that my gun?” he says confused.

His chest really hurts.

“Umm yeah,” she says slowly. “I turned it into a stun gun so I could knock you out without hurting you.”

“It didn’t work very well,” he says bluntly. “My chest feels like it was hit by a hover train.”

“I was improvising with one hand,” says the girl sounding offended that he insulted her skills.

“Why did you tie me up?” he asks. “I don’t even know who you are.”

“I’m Das,” she says without hesitating. “You set my arm.”

“That does not explain why you shot me with my own gun and tied me up,” he says.

“Excuse me, I stunned you,” she says. “I did not shoot you.”

“That is not the point,” he says.

“I was going to pass out,” she says. “And I didn’t want to wake up tied up and naked in someone's basement.”

He doesn’t have anything to say to that.

“It’s okay,” she says. “I’m leaving now. There’s a knife by your foot so you can get yourself untied.”

She turns away.

“Wait,” he says. “Don’t go!”

“What?” she says.

“Don’t go,” he repeats. “Stay.”

“Why would I do that?” she asks but she doesn’t walk away.

“I don’t remember everything yet,” says Kal. “But I remember you were beat up pretty bad by your last crew.”

“So what,” she says still wary.

“So you don’t have anywhere to go,” he says.

“I’ll be fine,” she says without looking at him.

“I don’t have anywhere to go either,” he says.

“You want me to stay with you?” she says incredulously. “After I shot you?”

“I won’t hit you,” he says. “Not ever.”

“You’re not the first person who said that,” she says sounding older than she looks.

“I’ll prove it to you if you let me,” he says.

She still hasn’t moved and when she does, he’s afraid that she’s about to disappear out of his life forever. He doesn’t know why but something is telling him that he needs to stay with this girl. She doesn’t run though, instead she turns back and slowly walks over to him.

“I am sorry I shot you and tied you up,” she says producing a knife from her ratty boot.

She begins to cut him free.

“I think I’ll be able to forgive you,” he says. “If you fix my gun, Das.”

**Author's Note:**

> Content warnings:
> 
> Five is pretty badly hurt, also she's twelve. Her arm and fingers are broken and it's very strongly implied that this is not the first time she has been beaten. Six essentially considers it torture. There's also a pretty disturbing scene when he is setting her arm and she's in a a lot of pain. Five also makes a reference to implied sexual assault. It doesn't occur but the possibility is brought up. Ends on a positive note with Five agreeing to stay with Six. 
> 
> Let me know if there's anything else I should mention.


End file.
